The value of human capital has become an all-pervasive catch-cry within the business world. Most organizations now recognize that their people are the business, the very lifeblood which creates the difference between success or failure.

Getting it right…

Developing great human capital can be broken down into three essential principles.

Finding or attracting the right people who will add to the value of your organization.

Keeping the great people you already have.

Building your existing team so that they become great people.

These principles or building blocks of human capital investment are often approached from the wrong angle. Emphasis is commonly put on the first and second principles “finding” and “keeping” and lastly on the final principle “building”.

When companies approach human capital investment from this angle they often find themselves struggling to find or attract great people, and, despite great employee benefits, to keep them.

Success starts with “Building”

“It is only as we develop others that we permanently succeed”
Harvey Samuel Firestone (1868-1938)

Often training or “building” is the last area to receive the company’s attention and valuable resources. “Building” or developing your existing team should be the first area that an organization should look into as this will lead to “keeping” and ultimately “finding” great employees.

“Building” individuals can be done through either external or internal training. Training not only up skills individuals and increases productivity it also has a flow on effect into staff retention or “keeping.”

Training helps retain key staff

Training aids in staff retention in two ways:

Firstly, if an employee feels confident in their job they are likely to stay longer – so by giving them the necessary skills to perform their job competently you will be moving towards achieving this.

Secondly, employees are more content when they feel worthwhile. Employees feel appreciated when the companies show an interest in investing in them. Dissatisfaction with their present position is one of the leading reasons why an employee will leave an organization – not money or lifestyle opportunities.

… And leads to attracting great people

Employee satisfaction is also the key ingredient in “finding” great people. A company that can “keep” their employees will have no problems in attracting great people. Word of mouth is the most powerful advertising tool and effort can then be spent on sorting through the applicants rather than trying to attract them.

Despite these benefits of training many organizations are still either absent in their attempts to train or their attempts to do so are ineffective. Part 2 of this article will look at why this is and how to use video to create effective training programs for your employees.
 

Written by Athalia Bond

Producer-Director

Picture Talk Productions